Writing, reviews, interviews, photography.

A Recap of 2012

Posted on January 4, 2013

Thanks and Happy New Year!

2012 was a very important year for us. It saw the addition of our creative director, Steve Streisguth. We expanded from our start in Philadelphia, PA. to a second arm in Los Angeles, CA. It launched the first video productions facilitated by The American Classic. We took part in the creation of two albums, created 45 unique posts, covered several events, curated Natural Process, created product shots, lookbooks, and more. Our viewership is up 536% over 2011, not even factoring in things like Tumblr and Twitter, and we couldn’t be more proud of that. We’ve come a long way since our humble beginnings in 2010 and for all of you out there reading this, thank you for your support. 2013 will bring changes that will allow us to share better content to a broader audience. Be prepared for some new types of programming that you haven’t seen from us before. Hope you’ll stay tuned and we’re looking forward to another year!

Top posts of 2012:

Hammarhead Industries Day Pack

Natural Process

Frank & Oak – Well Curated, Well Cut

Inquiries & Responses Vol. 10: Rogue Territory

Field Trip to Self Edge NYC & Hickoree’s Hard Goods

Top Search Terms of 2012:

  1. “derringer cycles for sale”
  2. “the american classic”
  3. “trove general store”
  4. “frank and oak review”
  5. “hammarhead industries daypack review”
  6. “teppei teranishi”
  7. “red wing iron ranger”
  8. “uniform wares”
  9. “best made hudson bay axe”
  10. Variations of Hammarhead Industries Daypack
Categories: Announcements

The Battle Royale of the American-Made Shirt: Vol. 2 Lumina Clothing Co. & Brooks Brothers

Posted on December 18, 2012

Volume 2- Lumina Vs. Brooks Bros

Welcome to Volume 2 of the Battle Royale of the American-Made Shirt. The idea behind this article started with a simple purchasing conundrum; there are plenty of great brands out there and with a few parameters set forth, how can we really narrow down what shirt is the best for our needs as a consumer? Our rules were simple:

  1. We wanted a shirt that would appeal to the masses, though showcased each company’s best effort, that fit the average cut guy very well.
  2. The shirt had to be made in the United States of America.
  3. If it could be helped, the shirt had to be under $200.00

After doing research, this proved to be far more difficult than we had anticipated. When it comes down to it, many brands aren’t familiar with the origins of their fabric or didn’t make the shirts themselves. Most of our favorites – the really distinctive patterns – were typically beyond the allotted price point. You will see that we did make a few exceptions along the way but stayed true to these rules for the most part. Most of the brands were quick to point out that in differentiating between most labels with the exception of a very select few American makers, all shirts are essentially the same. The variables are in the fabric and the cut with only slight variation in construction seen across the board. Once you’ve seen one shirt, you’ve seen most of them; or so it seemed.
We have taken the approach to looking at these shirts as someone who puts average wear on clothing with occasional days working in the field on creative projects and more frequent days sitting behind a desk. We tested all of these shirts and combined our opinions with those of the fit models who wore them for the photo shoots. The brands we will review in this volume are Lumina Clothing Co. from Raleigh, NC. (though manufactured in Chicago) and Brooks Brothers from New York, NY. (though manufactured in North Carolina). Click below to view the full article and photos.

Categories: Photos, Writeups

Pop Up Flea

Posted on December 1, 2012
PUF_masthead_(2_of_2)_web_final

Yesterday we got to swing by Pop Up Flea for a little while in the evening, see some old friends, and take a couple of photos. If you’re in New York, you should definitely swing by today or tomorrow. There’s so much great stuff to see: Andrew Chen from 3sixteen is on hand to hem your new purchases for you, and the wonderful folks from grown & sown have a stellar selection of pants if you’re overloaded with selvedge everything. Gerber Knives is ramping up for their 75th Anniversary with a lot of great heritage knives, and if you’re lucky, Tony and Pete from Tellason will offer you some rare chocolate ants (or so they will claim). Upstairs, be sure to talk to Ted over at Terrapin Stationers for some notecards that will make your mother blush. Longsstory short, bring your credit card and buy yourself something nice for Christmas. After all, nobody knows what you truly want more than you do.

 

Pop Up Flea V
Friday, Nov 30th 3pm – 9pm
Saturday, Dec. 1st 11am – 7pm
Sunday, Dec. 2nd 11am – 6pm

Drive-In Studios
443 W. 18th Street (nr. 10th Ave.)

Categories: Travels

Inquiries & Responses Vol. 11: Andrew Apostola

Posted on November 26, 2012

 

Unless you’ve been living without the internet on a backwoods Alaskan retreat for the last eight months, chances are you’ve heard of the relatively new Svbscription service from the folks that brought you Portable. In case you haven’t, Svbscription is a luxury curated subscription service for men, released quarterly and based on a one-word theme. The items in the parcel below were curated around the theme of Study, and included an aluminum fountain pen by German manufacturer Kaweco, a suede folio by designer Loden Dager, a copy of the The Yips by author Nicola Barker, and finally two fragrances from Le Labo with a custom engraved metal travel tube. I haven’t been so excited to receive something in a long time, and regularly harassed the mailman until I finally saw a package with that familiar tape. I did my best to open everything slowly and really take it in, but sometimes your enthusiasm gets the best of you. Svbscription curates very high end designer items and custom collaborations, and it is very very likely that you will be receiving something that only a few hundred people in the world own.

The third incarnation, based around the theme of ‘Leisure’ is anticipated to be their best parcel to date, and is set to be released in the beginning of December. Earlier this month, we sat down with Andrew Apostola: co-founder and creative director for Portable, CEO of Svbscription, and probably one of the most down to earth guys in the industry. We decided to present the interview in it’s entirety, discussing topics from the subscription service model, retail in the Web 2.0 era, and what it takes to redesign aging retail models and connect the designer more directly with the consumer.

Would you like to win one of five limited-edition parcels co-curated with Brooklyn Magazine? Details at the bottom of the article!

Categories: Inquiries & Responses, Writeups

The Battle Royale of the American-Made Shirt: Vol. 1 Taylor Stitch & Rogue Territory

Posted on November 20, 2012

Welcome to Volume 1 of the Battle Royale of the American-Made Shirt. The idea behind this article started with a simple purchasing conundrum; there are plenty of great brands out there and with a few parameters set forth, how can we really narrow down what shirt is the best for our needs as a consumer? Our rules were simple:

  1. We wanted a shirt that would appeal to the masses, though showcased each company’s best effort, that fit the average cut guy very well.
  2. The shirt had to be made in the United States of America.
  3. If it could be helped, the shirt had to be under $200.00

After doing research, this proved to be far more difficult than we had anticipated. When it comes down to it, many brands aren’t familiar with the origins of their fabric or didn’t make the shirts themselves. Most of our favorites – the really distinctive patterns – were typically beyond the allotted price point. You will see that we did make a few exceptions along the way but stayed true to these rules for the most part. Most of the brands were quick to point out that in differentiating between most labels with the exception of a very select few American makers, all shirts are essentially the same. The variables are in the fabric and the cut with only slight variation in construction seen across the board. Once you’ve seen one shirt, you’ve seen most of them; or so it seemed.

We have taken the approach to looking at these shirts as someone who puts average wear on clothing with occasional days working in the field on creative projects and more frequent days sitting behind a desk. We tested all of these shirts and combined our opinions with those of the fit models who wore them for the photo shoots. The first brands we will review are Taylor Stitch from San Francisco, CA. and Rogue Territory from Los Angeles, CA., hence the Californian imagery in our masthead. Click below to view the full article and photos.

Categories: Photos, Reviews, Writeups